JPH09233410A - Digital video camera - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To temporarily store a still picture, to read it out and to record a moving image simultaneously with the end of moving image recording when the fetch of the still picture is requested during moving image recording so as to simultaneously pick up the still picture as well during the pickup of the moving image. SOLUTION: After prescribed signal processing is applied to a shot video signal by a digital image pickup processing circuit 4, a digital image signal is outputted. Still picture data are temporarily stored in a memory circuit 5 for still picture, and digital image data are recorded in a digital video disk 13 by a write head 12. Then, when the still picture recording request is generated at any arbitrary timing during moving image shooting, the still picture data are speedily stored in the memory circuit 5 for still picture, afterwards, the moving image shooting operation is continued and when the moving image shooting is finished, the still picture data stored in the memory circuit 5 for still picture are read out and recorded in the digital video disk 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital video camera for recording digital image data picked up by an image pickup device as a moving image or a still image on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a method of recording a moving image and a still image using one digital camera has been developed. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-315107 discloses a method of performing compression recording for a still image in a still image mode of a digital camera and performing compression recording for a moving image in a moving image mode and recording the same on an optical disc recording medium. Have been described.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-264530 discloses a method of controlling image compression and recording operation on a recording medium with a still image, continuous shooting, and pseudo moving image.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following specification problems.
That is, in any of the conventional techniques disclosed in JP-A-6-315107 and JP-A-7-264530, when there is a request to record a high-quality still image during moving image shooting, the moving image recording is temporarily stopped. In addition, there is a problem in usability that it is necessary to shift to the still image recording mode later.

In general, when it is desired to record a moving image and a still image at the same time, it can be realized by using two or more recording heads in a storage medium such as a disk. However, there is a problem in that a plurality of recording heads, driving circuits, and the like are required, which increases cost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a digital video camera capable of simultaneously capturing a still image while capturing a moving image and without increasing the cost.

[0006]

That is, the present invention uses a recordable and reproducible digital video disk as a recording medium, and a digital video camera capable of recording a still image and a moving image has a predetermined video signal. Signal processing means for outputting a digital image signal after performing the signal processing, buffer memory means for temporarily storing still image data, and recording head means for recording the digital image data on the digital video disk. , If a still image recording request is generated at any timing during movie shooting, the still image data is promptly stored in the buffer memory means, and then the movie shooting operation is continued to end the movie shooting. At this time, the still image data stored in the buffer memory means is read and recorded on the disc. And butterflies.

According to the present invention, in a digital video camera capable of recording a still image and a moving image using a recordable and reproducible digital video disc as a recording medium, a predetermined signal is added to a video signal taken by a signal processing means. After the processing is performed, the digital image signal is output. Still image data is temporarily stored in the buffer memory means, and the digital image data is recorded on the digital video disk by the recording head means. Then, when a still image recording request is generated at an arbitrary timing during moving image shooting, the still image data is promptly stored in the buffer memory means, and then the moving image shooting operation is continued and the moving image shooting is performed. Upon completion, the still image data stored in the buffer memory means is read and recorded on the disc.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a schematic block configuration diagram of a digital video camera using a digital video disk (hereinafter abbreviated as DVD) capable of recording and reproducing on an image recording medium.

In FIG. 1, the light imaged by the lens 1 is photoelectrically converted by an image pickup device (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 2 such as a CCD and then digitally picked up by an A / D conversion circuit 3. It is taken into the processing circuit 4. The still image memory circuit 5 is supplied with the output from the sampling circuit 6 together with the digital image pickup processing circuit 4. The CCD 2, A / D conversion circuit 3, digital imaging processing circuit 4, and sampling circuit 6 are controlled by a timing generator 7.

The timing generator 7 is a CCD
Create a transfer signal to extract the output signal from 2 and CC
While controlling D2, a sampling signal of the A / D conversion circuit 3 and a synchronization signal of the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 are generated.

The output of the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 is also a moving picture coding experts group (MPEG).
) / JPEG encoder 8 and system encoder 9 to send to the modulation and correction code adding circuit 10. Furthermore,
The output of the modulation / correction code adding circuit 10 is written on the DVD 13 by the write head 12 via the recording amplifier.

The write head 12 and the DVD 13 are
It is driven by a driver 15 via a feed motor 14 and a disk motor 16, respectively. The driver 15 is controlled by the system controller 18 via the servo controller 17. This system control unit 1
Reference numeral 8 also controls the sampling circuit 6, the timing generator 7, the MPEG / JPEG encoder 8, the system encoder 9, and the modulation / correction code addition circuit 10.

In such a structure, the image pickup signal imaged by the lens 1 and photoelectrically converted by the CCD 2 is converted from an analog signal into a digital signal by the A / D conversion circuit 3. Thereafter, the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 performs various image pickup processing such as color separation processing, gamma conversion, and edge enhancement processing, and outputs the image data.

First, the operation at the time of recording a still image will be described. When a still image recording request signal is input to the system control unit 18 from a key signal (not shown), the system control unit 18 sends a still image mode command to each component block. Then, first, the digital image pickup processing circuit 4
Image data from the MPEG / JPEG encoder 8
Is output to Here, the still image mode
PEG compression processing is performed.

Next, in the system encoder 9, data from a voice processing circuit (not shown) and data such as character information are added and converted into a data stream. Further, here, a signal for identifying that the recording signal is a still image may be added.

Then, the modulation / correction code adding circuit 10 adds a correction code to the data stream signal converted by the system encoder 9 to correct the data when a read error occurs during reproduction.
Further, modulation for recording on the DVD 13 is performed. The data signal is level-adjusted so that it becomes a proper signal for recording by the recording amplifier 11, and is recorded at a predetermined position on the DVD 13 via the write head 12.

Further, the system control unit 18 creates a control signal for controlling the write track position and the in-track position based on information from a head position sensor (not shown) and the like, thereby controlling the write head 12.
Then, the feed motor 14 is controlled and driven via the servo controller 17 and the driver 15 to drive the write head 12.

Similarly, the rotation of the DVD 13 is controlled by the servo controller 17 based on the control signal from the system controller 18.
Also, it is realized by controlling the disk motor 16 via the driver 15.

Next, the operation when recording a moving image will be described. When a moving image recording request signal is input to the system control unit 18 from a key signal (not shown), the system control unit 18 sends a moving image mode command to each component block.

First, the image data from the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 is output in the moving image mode. Next, the image data read from the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 is MPEG /
It is sent to the JPEG encoder 8. Here, in the moving image mode, MPEG compression processing is performed. This M
In the PEG compression process, MPEG1 and MPEG2 and more detailed classifications are known as standards, but the PEG compression process is not particularly limited here.

In the system encoder 9, data from a voice processing circuit (not shown) and data such as character information are added to the compressed data and converted into a data stream. Further, here, a signal for identifying that the recording signal is a moving image may be added.

Since the subsequent processing is exactly the same as the above-mentioned contents at the time of recording the still image, the description thereof will be omitted. Next, the operation of the still image capturing process during recording of a moving image will be described.

Here, based on the above description at the time of recording a moving image, a case will be described in which a request for capturing a still image is generated by a key signal (not shown) in the system control unit 18 during recording of a moving image.

The image data of the moving image continues the same operation as that at the time of recording the moving image. At the same time, the still image data from the digital image pickup processing circuit 4 is stored and saved in the still image memory circuit 5. At this time, in the still image memory circuit 5, the memory address control is performed by the sampling circuit 6. Further, the image data stored in the still image memory circuit 5 may be data which has been compressed by a predetermined method such as JPEG although not shown.

The image data stored in the still image memory circuit 5 is immediately subjected to still image recording in accordance with the above-described still image recording operation when moving image recording is completed. Next, three types of operations of the above-described still image recording, moving image recording, and still image capturing processing during moving image recording will be described with reference to the operation sequence of FIG.

In FIG. 2, the number indicating the state is shown at the bottom and the key button pressed on the number. Further, in order to make the image of the operation level easy to understand, in order from the bottom, a stopped state (a state in which the power is turned on but does not reach the preparatory operation for shooting, or a power saving mode may be used) and a pause state (video shooting or In a state where it can immediately operate for still image shooting, for example, in the state where auto focus operation or auto iris operation is being performed), still image recording state (mode for recording one frame of still image), movie recording state (so-called video camera The state of recording) is shown.

Here, an example of the operation state will be described together with the key input. First, when the [PAUSE] key is pressed in the stopped state, the pause state is entered (state 1). In this state, press the [REC] key to switch to the movie recording state (state 2), and press the [Trigger] key to execute one still image recording (state 6), (state 7), [PAUS
When the E] key is pressed again, the mode shifts to the stop mode (state 8).

In addition, in the moving image recording state, [Trigger]
When the key is pressed, it is temporarily stored in the still image memory circuit 5 (state 3), (state 4). Note that a plurality of still images can be recorded according to the memory capacity.

Further, when the [REC] key is pressed again in this moving image recording state, the moving image recording is stopped and the pause state is entered. However, if still image data is present in the still image memory circuit 5, the moving image recording is stopped. After that, the still image data is read from the still image memory circuit 5, the still image is recorded, and then the pause state is entered (state 5). In the stopped state, [RE
Even if the [C] or [Trigger] key is pressed, it is ignored and the operation transition does not occur (state 9).

FIG. 3 shows the recording medium D shown in FIG.
It is the figure shown about the area | region where the moving image or still image of VD13 is recorded. In FIG. 3, the DVD 13 has a moving image recording area 20 and a still image recording area 21, and recording is sequentially performed from the outer circumference of the disc regardless of whether it is a moving image or a still image. Therefore, in order to distinguish the moving image area and the still image, although not shown, the disk has an area for storing track information and the like.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the digital video camera of FIG. The operation of this digital video camera will be described below with reference to this flowchart.

When the power is turned on, first, initial processing such as various initial settings is performed (step S1). Here, in particular, data "WAIT" indicating the number of times the still image is read into the memory during the moving image is reset by setting "0" data.

Next, it is checked whether or not the power off key has been pressed (step S2). Here, if the power-off key is pressed, after the operation stop processing (step S3) is performed, all the operations in each operation mode are stopped,
This sequence ends. On the other hand, if the power-off key is not pressed in step S2, the presence / absence of a disk is next checked (step S4).

In step S4, if there is no disk, the LCD display without disk outputs a display indicating no disk (step S5), and then returns to step S2. On the other hand, if there is a disc, the subsequent key press check is performed (steps S6 to S9).

In this key press check, first, no key press (step S6), [PAUSE] key (step S7), [REC] key (step S8),
For each of the [Trigger] keys (step S9), the key press is checked. Although other key buttons actually exist, they are omitted here.

If no key is pressed, a steady processing operation is performed for each of the stop state, pause state, and moving image recording state (step S10), and then step S2 described above.
Return to It should be noted that description of this regular processing is omitted.

If the key press is [PAUSE], then the current mode is checked (step S11). Here, the movie recording state [REC] or the pause state [PA
If none of USE], the process proceeds to step S10.

If the moving image recording state [REC] is set in step S11, the data "WAIT" is checked (step S12). This step S12
If the data "WAIT" is other than "0", it means that the still image memory circuit 5 has captured the still image. Therefore, the still image data is read from the still image memory circuit 5. Then, the still image recording operation is performed (step S1).
3). At this time, the data "WAIT" is set to "0".

In step S12, the data "WAI
When T "is" 0 "and when step S13 is completed, the operation mode is changed to the pause state (step S14), and then the process returns to step S2.

Further, if the current state is the pause state in step S11, the operation mode is changed to the stop mode (step S15), and then the process returns to step S2.
Even when the key is pressed [REC], the current mode is checked following step S8 (step S16). Here, the movie recording state [REC] or the pause state [PA
If none of USE], the process proceeds to step S10. On the other hand, if it is in the pause state [PAUSE], after moving to the moving image recording state (step S17), the process returns to step S2. Also, the current status is movie recording status [REC].
In the case of, after shifting to the pause state (step S1
8) and returns to step S2.

Then, if the key press is [Trigger], the current mode is subsequently checked (step S19). Here, if neither the moving image recording state [REC] nor the pause state [PAUSE], the process proceeds to step S10.

On the other hand, in step S19, if the current state is the moving image recording state [REC], the still image image data is the still image memory circuit 5 as the still image capturing operation in the moving image.
Is written in (step S20). Then, the data “W
A so-called increment process is performed to add "1" to the data of "AIT" (step S21).
The procedure returns to step S2.

In step S19, if the current state is the pause state [PAUSE], the still image recording operation is performed (step S22), and the process returns to step S2. The pause state is maintained after the still image recording operation is performed.

In steps S6 to S9, the [PAUSE] key, the [REC] key, and the [Trigge] key are selected.
If any key other than the [r] key is pressed, other key pressing processing is performed (step S23). Here, description of the other key pressing processing is omitted, but since it is generally assumed that it does not relate to the operation mode, after the processing of each key in step S23, the process proceeds to step S10.

Thus, according to the embodiment, the DVD
Even when a moving image is being recorded by a digital video camera using as a recording medium, if a still image acquisition request is made, the still image is temporarily stored in the built-in memory circuit, and the still image is recorded at the same time when the moving image recording ends. Since it is read from the memory circuit and recorded, still images can be recorded during moving image recording, and usability is improved because it is not necessary to separately take moving images and still images.

The above-mentioned still picture memory circuit can be improved in usability by making it possible to record a plurality of still pictures. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

In the above-described embodiment, the recording area for recording a still image and a moving image on the DVD, which is a recording medium, is configured as shown in FIG. 3, but in another embodiment, it is shown in FIG.
Configure as shown in.

That is, when recording a moving image, the DVD 1
The recording operation is performed inward from the outer peripheral direction of 3 ', and when recording a still image, the recording is performed outward from the inner peripheral direction of the disc. According to this structure, the operation of discriminating the moving image / still image at the time of reproduction becomes unnecessary.

Although not shown, the moving image may be recorded from the inner circumferential direction of the disc toward the outer side, and the still image may be recorded from the outer circumferential direction of the disc toward the inner side.

In the above-described embodiments, the disk-shaped DVD is used as the recording medium, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a magnetic tape may be used as the recording medium.

Although not shown, the MPE in FIG.
It is also possible to arrange G / JPEG encoders in parallel and use the data after image compression of the still image capture during moving image recording. As a result, the capacity of the still image memory can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. Alternatively, it becomes possible to increase the number of still images that can be temporarily stored in the same capacity.

According to the above embodiment of the present invention, the following constitution can be obtained. (1) An image sensor that photoelectrically converts light formed by a lens into an electric signal, and an image processing circuit that converts the photoelectrically converted electric signal into a digital video signal by a predetermined method,
A still image memory circuit for storing the digital video signal, an apparatus for recording the digital video signal on a recording medium, and a first recording means for recording a moving image in which the digital video signal is continuous on the recording medium, Second recording means for recording one still image of the digital video signal on the recording medium, and operating the second recording means while operating the first recording means. Is requested, the still image data of the digital video signal is temporarily stored in the still image memory circuit, and after the completion of the operation of the first recording unit is detected, the still image memory circuit 2. A digital video camera, characterized in that the digital video signal is recorded on the recording medium by operating a second recording means.

(2) The digital video camera according to (1), wherein the moving image and the still image recorded on the recording medium are recorded in predetermined areas.

(3) The digital video according to (1) or (2) above, wherein the recording medium is a disc-shaped disc capable of recording and reproducing a digital image signal by an optical or magnetic method. camera.

(4) Of the images recorded above, moving images are sequentially recorded from the outer peripheral direction of the disc-shaped recording medium toward the inner side, and still images are recorded from the inner peripheral direction of the disc-shaped recording medium toward the outer side. The digital video camera according to the above (3), wherein the digital video camera records the images sequentially.

(5) Of the images recorded above, moving images are sequentially recorded from the inner peripheral direction of the disc-shaped recording medium toward the outer side, and still images are recorded from the outer peripheral direction of the disc-shaped recording medium toward the inner side. The digital video camera according to the above (3), wherein the digital video camera records the images sequentially.

(6) The digital video camera according to (1), wherein the still image memory circuit stores image data subjected to signal compression processing by a predetermined method. (7) The digital video camera according to (1), wherein the still image is image data having higher image quality than a moving image.

[0058]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily capture a still image even while the digital video camera is recording a moving image, and the moving image mode is once released to shift to the still image capturing mode. It is possible to save time and effort and improve usability. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare two devices, that is, a video camera for shooting a moving image and a camera for shooting a still image, and it is easy to use and the price of a product as a system can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a schematic block configuration diagram of a digital video camera using a digital video disk capable of recording and reproducing on an image recording medium.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation sequence of moving image recording, still image recording, and still image capturing in a moving image of the digital video camera of FIG.

3 is a diagram showing an area in which a moving image or a still image of the DVD 13 which is the recording medium of FIG. 1 is recorded.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the digital video camera of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a region in a moving medium or a still image of a DVD, which is a recording medium, according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 lens, 2 image pickup device (CCD), 3 A / D conversion circuit, 4 digital image pickup processing circuit, 5 still image memory circuit, 6 sampling circuit, 7 timing generator, 8 MPEG / JPEG encoder, 9 system encoder, 10 modulation Correction code addition circuit, 11 recording amplifier, 12 writing head, 13, 13 'digital video disk (DVD), 14 feed motor, 15 driver, 16 disk motor, 17 servo controller, 18 system control section, 20 video recording area, 21 Still image recording area.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A digital video camera capable of recording a still image and a moving image using a recordable and reproducible digital video disc as a recording medium, and after performing a predetermined signal processing on a captured video signal, a digital video signal is recorded. A signal processing means for outputting an image signal, a buffer memory means for temporarily storing still image data, and a recording head means for recording the digital image data on the digital video disk are provided. When a still image recording request is generated at an arbitrary timing, the still image data is promptly stored in the buffer memory means, then the moving image shooting operation is continued, and stored in the buffer memory means when the moving image shooting is completed. A digital video camera characterized by reading still image data being recorded and recording it on the disc. 2. The digital video camera according to claim 1, wherein the still image and the moving image are recorded in respective track areas provided separately on the digital video disc. 3. The digital video camera according to claim 1, wherein the recording head unit serves both as a still image recording head unit and a moving image recording head unit.